Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) devices are known and used for the direct production of electricity from standard fuel materials including fossil fuels, hydrogen, and the like by converting chemical energy of a fuel into electrical energy. Fuel cells typically include porous electrode components that are compiled as stacks for conversion of fuels. In a typical SOFC, a solid electrolyte separates the porous metal-based anode from a porous metal or ceramic cathode. Conditioning of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) typically requires a thermal break-in period at a suitable operating temperature in order to integrate components in the SOFC stack. Moreover, it is often desirable or necessary to use a series of thermal treatments to fully assembly a fuel cell. Planar SOFC stacks that operate at an intermediate temperature (700-800° C.), often contain interconnects made of ferritic stainless steels that are hermitically sealed to adjacent components by a sealing glass. Seal performance relies on the chemical compatibility of the sealing glass with the metallic interconnect. During thermal curing, however, glass-containing seals used to couple components within an SOFC stack can shrink. Shrinkage in glass seals used to couple various components can introduce unintentional void spaces, flow paths, gaps, and/or channels within the device that permit undesired consequences to occur including, e.g., unintentional, or redirected, flow of fuel into these void spaces and channels during operation, which reduces the efficiency of the device and can induce associated reductions in output voltages and utility of the device as a power generator. Such gaps and low pressure drop channels (called “by-pass” channels) permit fuel to circumvent the active, or intended, flow path of the cell. For fuel to flow properly within an SOFC, open void spaces including, e.g., channels and pathways must be completed sealed or filled such that they pose a greater energy barrier for circumventing fuels to flow than the desired flow pathways. Thus, ultimately, to have high fuel utilization, such channels must either be filled or eliminated. Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods of filling void spaces during fabrication or coupling of components (e.g., metal and ceramic parts) in an SOFC such that new flow paths or channels are not introduced, so that the SOFCs can operate at high temperatures at maximum fuel efficiency.